System Interrupts (OCR A-Level Computer Science): Quizzes
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Practise the questions
12 questions from this quiz
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Practise the questions
12 questions from this quiz
What is an interrupt?
What is an interrupt?
A signal that halts the CPU temporarily
What is the primary purpose of interrupts?
What is the primary purpose of interrupts?
To enable multitasking and timely responses
Which type of interrupt is triggered by a keyboard?
Which type of interrupt is triggered by a keyboard?
Hardware interrupt
What generates timer interrupts?
What generates timer interrupts?
The system timer
What does the CPU save when an interrupt occurs?
What does the CPU save when an interrupt occurs?
Program counter and current state
What does the interrupt vector table identify?
What does the interrupt vector table identify?
The ISR for a specific interrupt
What is an ISR?
What is an ISR?
A set of instructions for an interrupt
When does the CPU check for pending interrupts?
When does the CPU check for pending interrupts?
At end of each fetch-decode-execute cycle
In the fetch stage of the cycle, what does the CPU do?
In the fetch stage of the cycle, what does the CPU do?
Retrieves an instruction from memory
What happens after the ISR completes?
What happens after the ISR completes?
CPU resumes the original process
Why does the system timer send interrupts at regular intervals?
Why does the system timer send interrupts at regular intervals?
To allow process switching for multitasking
What is the relationship between the ISR and the original program?
What is the relationship between the ISR and the original program?
The ISR is separate from the program